Homemade Ice Cream

Easy Homemade Ice Cream without a Machine. This is another one I spotted on Kevin & Amanda's site. Her pictures looked so good and the process was so simple I just had to try some for myself. I decided to try my own flavors, one for me and one for Dewayne. My favorite ice cream is peppermint, the only time it is available is during the holidays, so my flavor choice included peppermint. I added in some chocolate and called it Peppermint Patty. Dewayne loves anything peanut butter, so something peanut butter it was, I went with Reese Cup. Making the ice cream was super easy and both flavors turned out delicious!!

What you need...
*2 c. (16oz.) heavy whipping cream
*1 can sweetened condensed milk
*whatever flavor add-ins you choose

~For the Peppermint Patty...
*1/2c. crushed peppermint candy
*3 Hershey bars, shaved~For the Reese Cup...

~For the Reese Cup
*1/2c. peanut butter
*6 regular-sized Reese cups, chopped

What you do...
In a large bowl, whip the whipping cream until it forms stiff peaks. In a different large bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk and flavor add-ins. Stir the whipped whipping cream into the sweetened condensed milk mixture. Spoon into a 2qt. plastic container, cover with lid and freeze for 6 hours or until firm.

Peppermint Patty

Reese Cup

Fried Green Tomatoes

My brother has wanted fried green tomatoes all summer. They came down yesterday to watch the Bristol race and we had pulled pork sandwiches and fried green tomatoes. I had never fixed them before, but my best friend Shawna gave me this easy recipe. They were soooo good, I could never tell you how good. You will just have to try them for yourself.  Make sure to get them brown, some of the first ones that came off the stove were lightly browned and didn't taste as good as the ones that were  browned more.

Ingredients:
*green tomatoes, rinsed & medium sliced
*1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix (1 egg, 1/3c. milk)
*vegetable oil

Directions:
Pat tomato slices dry using paper towels. Pour in enough oil in pan to come 1/2 way up on the tomatoes. Let the oil get hot while you are preparing the corn muffin mix. Get the oil hot (similiar to frying chicken), but don't let it get too hot or it will burn the batter too quick. Prepare the muffin mix and dip the tomatoes in the mix one at a time. Place coated tomato slices in the hot oil and fry until browned on both sides. The less you turn them the better, turning too often can cause the batter to fall off the tomatoes. Drain the browned tomatoes on a plate covered with paper towels.

Sherbet Punch

This delicious punch recipe came from my aunt Jane and I absolutely love when mom treats us with a punch bowl full. She doesn't fix it too often, but it sure gets gone when she does.

Ingredients:
*1/2 gallon sherbet (any flavor)
*2 lg. cans pineapple juice
*2 lg. bottles 7-Up
*1 sm. bottle Ginger-Ale

Directions:
Place sherbet in a large puch bowl, pour chilled pineapple juice over top the sherbet. Let set a few minutes to soften sherbet. Add chilled 7-Up and Ginger-Ale. Stir and serve.

Cornbread

This recipe came from my stepdad (the best dad in the world). My mom has been fixing cornbread like this for as long as I remember. After I got married I started fixing it the same way and have ever since. This is very simple to prepare and makes the best cornbread ever.

Ingredients:
*1c. flour
*1c. cornmeal (sometimes I use just a little more cornmeal than flour)
*1 egg (optional)
*milk
*oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 to 425 degrees. Mix flour and cornmeal together in a bowl, stir in the egg (I usually don't do the egg).  Before adding the milk, cover the bottom of your pan or cast iron skillet (I always use a cast iron skillet) with a thin, thin layer of vegetable oil and place in hot oven. Make sure to watch your oil, it can get too hot and smoke. If this happens you will want to wash your pan and add new oil. Back to the batter... add milk, stirring as you pour. You want your batter pourable, but not too thin (similiar to cake or pancake batter).  When your oil is bubbly hot, remove pan from oven and immediately pour batter into hot pan. Bake until the top of your bread is browned (usually 20 minutes or so). This cornbread is fairly thin, if you like thicker cornbread you may want to use 1 1/2 cups of the flour and cornmeal. Getting the oil hot, makes your crust turn out crunchy.  I love my cornbread like this, makes me want some soup beans and cornbread just thinking about. No wait, chicken and dumplings, green beans and cornbread.

German Style Pickled Eggs

Ingredients:
*2 c. cider vinegar

*1 c. sugar

*1/2 c. water

*2 T. prepard mustard

*1 T.salt

*1 T. celery seed

*1 T. mustard seed

*6 whole cloves

*2 medium onions, thinly sliced

*12 hard-boiled eggs

Directions:

In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients except onions simmer for 10 minutes. Let cool completely, place onions and eggs in a large jar. Add enough vinegar mixture to completely cover eggs. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight. Eat within 1 week of fixing.

Mom fixed these several times back in late winter, we all loved them and ate enough to pickle ourselves.

Chocolate Chip Cheeseball

This is another one from my mom. I really liked it with stick pretzels. This would be great recipe for showers or parties. 

Ingredients:

*1 ( 8 oz ) package cream cheese

*1/2 c. butter, softned
*3/4 c. confectioner sugar
*2 T. brown sugar
*1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
*3/4 c. miniature chocolate chips
*3/4 c. finely chopped pecans

Directions:
In a medium bowl... beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth, mix in confectioner
sugar, brown sugar and vanilla; stir in chocolate chips. Cover and chill in refrigerator for 2 hours.
Shape chilled cream cheese mixture into ball. Then wrap ball in plastic wrap and chill again,
unwrap ball and roll in finely chopped pecans. Serve with pretzels or graham crackers.